The project, an adaptation of the Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne, explores a grisly crime from the point of view of the eyewitnesses. In it, two innocent teenage boys — one of them played by Tyler Young — secretly meet up in the forest where they witness a shooting and barely escape with their lives. Desperate to keep their relationship a secret and in fear of being found by the perpetrator, they remain silent but soon learn that what has been seen cannot be unseen and when you witness a horrible event it changes everything, forever.

Nicholson will play Helen Torrance, a former big-city homicide detective who left her harrowing career to become a small-town sheriff and loving wife. However, when a gruesome crime occurs she’s thrust back into the traumas of her past – just as she’s begun her hardest case yet: fostering a teenage boy (Young). Anneke von der Lippe won a best actress International Emmy for playing the role in the original series.

Nicholson most recently co-starred opposite Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton in Black Mass. She also starred in the Sundance scripted series The Red Road, and recurred on Masters Of Sex and Boardwalk Empire.

Shades Of Blue creator Adi Hasak wrote the series and will serve as executive producer/showrunner. The series’ original creator Jarl Emsell Larsen and Scott Peters also executive produce.